In recent decades, significant attention has been called to the issue of safety among truck drivers. In particular, the fact that many drivers may drive for long hours, and may thus be at a lowered sense of alertness, has contributed to a number of highway accidents and fatalities. Accordingly, such perception has lead to legislation and regulations that seek to determine how much and how often a truck driver may drive, and dictate the amount and frequency of rest periods. Compliance with such regulations, including maintaining accurate paperwork for record keeping, may be daunting and time consuming.
As a result, systems for tracking, managing and maintaining a fleet of portable assets have been developed that may assist a fleet operator and/or truck driver to accurately maintain driver logs that may identify, for example, time periods when the driver is on-duty and driving, on-duty but not driving, off-duty, and resting/sleeping, referred to herein as driver log information. In some aspects, such systems may further include one or more systems for actively monitoring the location of the portable asset and one or more systems for monitoring the performance of the portable asset. A system for monitoring the location of the portable asset may include a radio transmitter, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a terrestrial-based communication system such as a cellular network, or another type of communication device capable of periodically or continuously reporting its geographic location and other metrics relating to the portable asset to a receiving device. A system for monitoring the performance of the portable asset may include a number of sensors that collect and report vehicle performance data and a user interface for monitoring operator interaction with the portable asset. In one or more examples, the driver log information may be maintained via the system for monitoring the performance of the portable asset.
In some aspects, the system for tracking, managing and maintaining the portable assets may include, but is not limited to, a remote unit referred to as a mobile computing platform (MCP) device located in a cab and/or trailer of a vehicle transporting a portable asset, which communicates with a network management center (NMC) that collects and analyzes information from one or more MCPs in a fleet. An example of an MCP includes, but is not limited to, an MCP 50, an MCP 100, an MCP 110, an MCP 200, and a TT210 sold by Omnitracs, LLC of Dallas, Tex.
However, simply compiling and maintaining driver log information for the purposes of regulation compliance may not provide adequate guidance to the driver(s) and/or fleet operator(s) to identify potential risks.